THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY, part 6: The Grand Finale. Or, not?

 

“Writing a book is an adventure.  To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”

    --Winston Churchill--

 

Well, Sir Winnie is right. Again.

 

Once I've done my second or third reading, looking for grammar, spelling, and sentences that just go "thud," I mail the thing off.

 

A crazed entity called an editor then makes changes. So far, most of the changes have been wrong. That's right: mistaken, erroneous, faulty, specious, spurious, and defective. Words were struck from the text (okay, I confess--I can be wordy) without adjustment of verb/noun/adjective, so the residue, whilst shorter, is grammatically incorrect. Or, a stray comma or period was introduced after an edit.

 

One editor (at a thankfully now-defunct press) took on the following that I had penned for JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF GOD (still available from me):

 

"Jesus said:

      --love one another,

      --serve one another,

      --now, go and do this."

 

The newly edited version read:

 

"Jesus said to love one another. Jesus said to serve one another. He then told us to go and do this."

 

You tell me...is that "editing" in any positive sense of the verb? Apparently, he never moved beyond his third-grade teacher's dictum to always write in complete sentences.

I told the editor, "A love a affair with the complete sentence is a good thing. Generally."

 

The same editor  perfectly reversed the meaning of another sentence in that book. I didn't think it was a badly-composed sentence, but there was something that pushed a button for the editor, and they "edited." I steamed and stewed, ranted and raved, fussed and fumed. After this "editing," I replied with a four-page, single-spaced list of my corrections to the editing...perhaps 20% of which was response to constructive change...that's right, about 80% was clean-up of their introduced errors. I've still got the letter, it steamed me so!

 

So, what's the process...when there's one of these "edits" every page or two?
--do a side by side comparison, both documents open. Find what was changed/deleted/added/questioned.
--Ah, yes, questions--thank you, thank you--when they're asking questions, there's usually a good reason, and a need for me to clarify, simplify, expand, or delete.

--Next, repair any damages, or rework as they suggested...then, thank them for pointing out the need for clarification, as moi always knew what moi intended but it wasn't always gonna be clear to the reader.

 

Submit the changes. Review their next draft, where some of my edits were accepted, and some not. Come up with arguments to support my grammar...oh, editors don't seem to like commas. Strange, because sometimes a panda merely "eats shoots and leaves," but you'd better watch out if it "eats, shoots, and leaves." And, grammarians are divided about the usage of the second comma, "eats, shoots, and leaves." I think it sets off the action better than, "...eats, shoots and leaves." 

 

By the time I get through arguing over commas, colons, (oh, I do try to not overuse the semicolon--being a bit of an academic pedant, it's easy to overdo), and sentence fragments, I'm at a rolling boil. I try to sit on my replies for 24 hours so that the cloud of steam has a chance to blow away. Not a bad strategy for any angry letter, response, or rebuttal.

 

So, by the end of the process, I am one with Sir Winston: cast the beast loose! I care not to ever lay eyes on it again--begone wi'ye!

 

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PS: Of course there are great editors out there. Sadly, I've not yet worked with one.

PPS: David, beware hubris.

PPPS: I am...I'm just a fussy word-smithing grammarian from the outset. So, unless the editor is a FUSSIER word-smithing ultra-grammarian, I'll be arguing.

PPPPS: David, beware hubris.

 

 

 

 

A Well-composed Book: Magic Carpet or Tribute to Perseverance?

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.

 

Caroline Gordon, author, critic.

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A well-composed melody or another work of art does the same, imho. But, isn't it fascinating: what I consider well-composed is someone else's compost!

Here are some examples of great authors who didn't give up, despite being compost-piled by (idiotic) publishers:

After 5 years of continual rejection, the writer finally lands a publishing deal: Agatha Christie. Her book sales are now in excess of $2 billion. Only William Shakespeare has sold more.
 
The Christopher Little Literary Agency receives 12 publishing rejections in a row for their new client, until the eight-year-old daughter of a Bloomsbury editor demands to read the rest of the book. The editor agrees to publish but advises the writer to get a day job since she has little chance of making money in children’s books. Yet Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone spawns a series where the last four novels consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, on both sides of the Atlantic, with combined sales of 450 million.
 
Louis L’Amour received 200 rejections before Bantam took a chance on him. He is now their best ever selling author with 330 million sales.
 
“Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.” A rejection letter sent to Dr Seuss. 300 million sales and the 9th best-selling fiction author of all time.
 
“You have no business being a writer and should give up.” Zane Grey ignores the advice. There are believed to be over 250 million copies of his books in print.
 
140 rejections stating “Anthologies don’t sell” until the Chicken Soup for the Soul series by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen sells 125 million copies.
 
Years of rejection do not break his spirit. He only becomes more determined to succeed. When he eventually lands a publishing deal, such is the demand for his fiction that it is translated into over 47 languages, as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis goes on to sell over 100 million copies.
 
“It is so badly written.” The author tries Doubleday instead and his little book makes an impression. The Da Vinci Code sells 80 million.

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As Sir Winston said--Never, never, never...don't ever give up.

 

PS: do you really need anything else said, some little spoon-fed summary or a pretty pink bow? If you cannot figger out some application for yourself, all by yourself...aw, heck, you read this fah...I think you got it!

 

Idealist? Pessimist? Realist?

An idealist believes the short run doesn't really matter.

A cynic believes that the long run doesn't count.

A realist knows that what's done or left undone in the short run determines the outcome in the long run!

--journalist Sydney Harris.

The true realist has to look at the above quote with a grain of salt. I think Mr. journalist was going for a sound bite.

The short run doesn't matter to an idealist? Tell it to Beethoven: "Buh-buh-buh-bumm."

The long run? Howzabout Churchill's famed speech: "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense." [While modern mythology has Sir Winnie uttering this as the full text, it was actually on the 2nd page of a 2-page speech.]

What I'm doing today is what any writer does--grabs self by the scruff of the neck, sits down, and writes. And, doesn't give up. Short run, long run, intermediate...just keep plugging. Keep a long enough perspective so that the number of tiny steps along the way doesn't overwhelm. Keep a short enough perspective that the long haul doesn't daunt. How do you walk all the way across the USA? One step atta time, sure...but one needs a vision of the rolling waves on that distant short to make every step feel worth the effort.

Don't feel like it? Tough.

Love it? Great, but don't expect to coast on good feelings alone.

Feedback, positive or negative? Gotta decide if that matters a little, a lot, or NOT.

Goal.
Plan.
Action.
Persistence.